UP Board result 2019: Not even one student from government schools in merit lists

Not a single student from government schools could make it into the high school merit list of 21 toppers and the intermediate merit list of 14. In the high school exam results, government school students also recorded a lower pass percentage than students of private institutions.

As many as 139 schools in the high school category and 249 in the intermediate category registered below 20% pass results. (HT File)

The results of UP Board examinations 2019 show that government-run secondary schools are lagging behind private institutions.

Not a single student from government schools could make it into the high school merit list of 21 toppers and the intermediate merit list of 14. In the high school exam results, government school students also recorded a lower pass percentage than students of private institutions.

As many as 139 schools in the high school category and 249 in the intermediate category registered below 20% pass results. While the high school list had 50 government schools, five aided schools and 84 private institution, the intermediate list included 15 government schools, 58 aided ones and 176 private institutions.

In terms of percentage, 2.35% government schools and 0.42% private ones registered below 20% results in high school exams. Likewise, in intermediate examinations, 2.32% government schools and 1.46% private institutions recorded below 20% results.

Also, the pass percentage of government school students in high school examinations was 78.16%, while that of private institution students was 82.05%.

“The main reason for the dismal performance of students in government schools is very poor quality of teaching,” said career counsellor Dr Amrita Dass.

“This is because of malpractices in the appointment of teachers. Hence, many teachers fall far short of the requisite standards of teaching. The illegal practice of proxy teachers, wherein those appointed as teachers on high government salaries ‘sublet’ their jobs for a meagre amount to other individuals with low or no qualifications, also plays a role,” she said.

“Lack of accountability is another reason. In many areas, the infrastructure leaves much to be desired. All in all, the best practices of the teaching-learning process are ignored,” said Dr Dass.

Prof Rakesh Chandra of Lucknow University said, “If you look at the larger perspective, you will have to see the class and caste character along with the gender component in this. The richer and upper caste boys are sent to private schools.”

“The other aspect is that government school teachers, although they get good salaries, do not have enough supervision and infrastructure support. Then there is the policy of no examination, under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, which is not followed by private schools. As per this policy, even students who are weak in studies are promoted,” he said.

When contacted, Board secretary Nina Srivastava said, “We will try to find out and fix the shortcomings in the system. The state government is determined to improve the quality of teaching in government schools.”

District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) Mukesh Kumar Singh said that government school teachers were overburdened as they were required to do other work apart from teaching. “They are needed to perform election duty and are also engaged in the pulse polio programme. So, performance of government school students is slightly poor,” he said.

However, the DIOS claimed that several government schools in Lucknow had done well. “GGIC Singar Nagar registered 98% pass percentage in intermediate and 100% in high school, Government High School Utrawan registered a pass percentage of 80%, and GIC Rahimnagar High School registered a pass percentage of over 80%,” he said.